Economy

• Saturday, December 18th 2010 - 09:02 UTC

  UK, France, Germany join forces to freeze EU budget until end of the decade

  

  British Prime Minister David Cameron has joined forces with France and Germany to demand a real-terms freeze in the European Union budget until the end of the decade.

• Saturday, December 18th 2010 - 08:55 UTC

  Obama signs bipartisan tax-cut bill resisted by hard core Democrats

  

  United States president Barack Obama signed Friday into law an 858 billion US dollars bill extending for two years Bush-era tax cuts to boost a fragile economy and add jobs.

• Saturday, December 18th 2010 - 00:22 UTC

  Chilean Senators warn about ‘social impact’ of cheap US dollar for farm areas

  

  Senators representing agricultural parts of Chile strongly criticized the Central Bank and President Sebastian Piñera this week for turning a deaf ear to the “social, cultural and economic problems” created by the falling value of the US dollar, now hovering at 470 pesos to the dollar.

• Friday, December 17th 2010 - 23:04 UTC

  IMF anticipates ‘soft-landing’ of Uruguay’s economy in next two years

  

  The International Monetary Fund said economic growth in Uruguay will probably slow over the next two years, requiring policy makers to prepare for a “soft landing.”

• Friday, December 17th 2010 - 22:43 UTC

  Moody’s shocks EU: downgrades Irish debt five notches to Baa1

  

  Moody's has downgraded debt-stricken Ireland by five notches just days after the Irish parliament approved a multi-billion euro international bailout.

• Friday, December 17th 2010 - 07:05 UTC

  Euro zone agrees (strict conditionality) bail out permanent mechanism

  

  European Union leaders have agreed to set up a permanent mechanism to bail out any member state whose debt problems threaten the 16-nation Euro zone.

• Friday, December 17th 2010 - 07:01 UTC

  Asia’s emerging giants move closer; agree trade goal of 100 billion USD by 2015

  

  India and China agreed to raise the bilateral trade to 100 billion US dollars by 2015, step up investments and permit banks of other countries to open branches and representative offices.

• Friday, December 17th 2010 - 06:45 UTC

  Mercosur summit launches ambitious action plan to ensure customs union

  

  Mercosur leaders meeting in Brazil launched a plan to adopt common trade, investment and immigration policies to help underpin unprecedented economic growth in the region.

• Thursday, December 16th 2010 - 23:59 UTC

  China and Argentina sign Tax information exchange agreement

  

  China and Argentina signed a Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) in order to improve transparency in the two countries’ bilateral trade and investment.

• Thursday, December 16th 2010 - 23:56 UTC

  IMF votes aid loan to Ireland, but open to discussions with a new government

  

  The International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a 22.5 billion Euros loan for Ireland and said it was open to re-negotiating parts of the bailout package with a new government provided its overall targets were adhered to.